With thousands of people working in Belfast city centre every day, staff at the Merchant Hotel work hard to win their business.

The hotel, located in the trendy Cathedral Quarter, can cater for those looking for a quick bite to eat away from the office.

However, it can also host more formal gatherings, allowing companies to wine and dine clients in one of their private function rooms.

General manager Gavin Carroll said: "The business lunch is a very important part of our business.

"If you take the Cloth Ear, for example, offering food there means that we are attracting more people into it during the day.

"We have a number of different options for people wanting to come in for lunch, from the Cloth Ear to the Great Room, which is more formal, or we also have private rooms where our clients can have more private meetings."

A menu offering the best and freshest ingredients is key to the appeal of the different venues in the hotel, according to Mr Carroll.

However, he stressed that speed is also essential when trying to keep customers happy.

"We are very mindful of the fact that people coming in for lunch have time restrictions," he said.

"They don't want to spend a long time waiting for their lunch so we specifically tailor the menu with that in mind.

"We offer meals that can be on the table within 20 minutes and we work hard to achieve that.

"It also means we can't offer some dishes as we don't want to just heat something up, we want to cook it from scratch, which isn't possible with everything.

"When people come to us during their lunch hour, they want an enjoyable experience so we do everything to ensure that happens."